Ben Bradshaw became the fourth culture secretary in two years when he replaced Andy Burnham on the eve of publication of the government's Digital Britain report.

With the double exit of Burnham and communications minister Lord Carter, Bradshaw will take responsibility for implementing the findings of the report, including the controversial £6 broadband levy on landlines and landmark proposals to top-slice the licence fee.

It will be no easy task for Bradshaw, a former BBC journalist who until only a few weeks ago was concentrating on the finer detail of managing NHS trusts as health minister.

His newness in the job, combined with the huge political uncertainty of the next 12 months, means Bradshaw is perfectly placed at number 50. He could be one of next year's biggest risers if the political wind blows Labour's way, but he is just as easily find himself out of government and out of next year's MediaGuardian 100.

In the meantime, Bradshaw will have to try to convince landline users that they really do want to pay another £6 a year to fund next-generation broadband, and the BBC of the merits of using licence-fee money to subsidise commercial public service broadcasting. The plan was immediately attacked by the BBC Trust chairman, Sir Michael Lyons.

"It is far more likely to secure the future of the licence fee if you share it, rather than end it," Bradshaw responded, adding that the BBC would do well to "seal a deal" before any future Conservative government. "Digital Britain is a very serious piece of work. I predict that the verdict of commentators will become kinder as they engage with the issues."

Labour MP for Exeter, Bradshaw entered parliament in 1997 and was made a minister at the Foreign Office in 2001. He subsequently held posts as deputy leader of the House of Commons and environment minister, becoming a health minister in 2007.

He previously worked as a newspaper and radio journalist, working in local newspapers in Exeter and Norwich and at BBC Radio Devon. He was appointed the BBC's Berlin correspondent in 1989 and was in the city for the fall of the Berlin Wall.

In 2006, he became the first MP to enter into a civil partnership, with BBC journalist Neal Dalgleish. A theatre and opera fan, he also likes yoga and cycling; he is also said to be a mean dancer.

Bradshaw is fiercely ambitious and single-minded, so the media industry could be forgiven for just hoping he hangs around a little longer than his predecessors, Burnham (17 months in the job) and James Purnell, who stayed just seven months after succeeding Tessa Jowell. Given the current political climate, it may not happen.